Okay, minimal editing for this one, thank god. Editing is so cumbersome and at times it can take longer than writing itself. Thank god I didn't have to scrap and rewrite bits and pieces yet.
Disclaimer: There are many things in this world that do not belong to me. Kubera is one of them.
S-C-N-D
Courtship of a Phoenix
…
A yellow Ananta Nastika was coiled almost three times around a moon. It snapped its fangs at a red bird hovering above. The bird jumped back nimbly each time, always only narrowly avoiding the poisonous bites. He was at an advantage. The snake had been bleeding for ten days and had punctured beak marks all over its leathery skin. Vinata kept her occupied during this time, never failing to prevent her from recovering her vigor. He was patient when he needed to be. He could wait however long it took for this vermin's death.
"Ananta will take revenge on your clan!" she screamed scathingly.
"…"
He swooped down once more to strike at her neck. This time, his beak pierced right through the leathery skin into her jugular and flesh. Gruesomely, he ripped out all of her arteries, veins and muscles in one jerk.
…
Chapter Eleven: When the Snowball Comes
N0 - approx. 61000 years
…
Snakes were not welcome here. These lands weren't suitable for them. Navigating mountains and skies had never been the forte of the Ananta Clan, even for Suras with wind and sky attributes. The dizziness of high altitudes made most of the earth dwellers beg to crawl back into a dark and cozy nook in the earth. And the sheer amount of Garuda Suras in these lands—despite the absence of some of the strongest Nastikas—was enough to scare one into shedding his skin.
But Ananta walked through the Garuda stronghold as if they were his own lands.
The Garuda Clan would not bow down to him? He'd make them bow.
Their Rakshasas dared to attack him? He'd strike them dead.
And if Garuda should refuse to face him personally? Well, he would simply obliterate Sura by Sura until he reached the white haired man's very own throne.
Just as he was casually ascending a mountain, another red Rakshasa shot forward, making him frown. Had they not learned their lesson yet? How shameful for the Superior Suras of Garuda's clan. Even the Maras and Upanis down below knew to willingly part for him after he dauntingly blasted a path clear for himself. After a single calculated strike, the Rakshasa fell below the clouds into a deep chasm where Ananta's poison would kill him in mere hours if he wasn't tended to properly.
"Ananta." His name came from the mouth of a brown man, a Nastika with folded arms standing two mountains away, "that was my second stage son. He did not deserve to be killed when you have simply deflected so many before him."
Ananta narrowed his eyes and cupped the small image of Avifauna with his hand. "That may be so, but given our current circumstances, you are not in a position where you can make requests of me. Your clan should be grateful that it is a Rakshasa and not a Nastika that I've just slain. I am an honourable king and I have no business with you. Tell Garuda that I demand an audience with him and no other Sura will get hurt."
"I am here," said a new voice.
Ananta turned to witness the sight of the very man he sought, clad in a black suit with white sleeve cuffs. His arms were also folded tightly. Swinging an open palm out, Garuda signaled for all of his Suras to retreat, including Avifauna who left reluctantly, before making a dive to face Ananta. Both of them were frowning.
It was Ananta who took the initiative to begin their dreaded conversation: "your clan and my clan are natural enemies. In order for Rakshasas and the Inferior Suras of your clan to thrive, they must feed on my kin. I'm not opposed to that as long as you don't overstep your boundaries." His red eyes flashed menacingly. "Four of my Nastikas have been slain in the past ten thousand years. Four. This is absolutely unacceptable. I should be ruthless and slay a Garuda Nastika for every Ananta Nastika that died at the hands of your clansman, but I do not believe in punishing the undeserving. Just this once, I will be generous and demand only the life of the miscreant responsible for this abomination."
In their two billion years of existence, Garuda could count the amount of times he faced Ananta on two hands. While it was true that he rarely came to look for trouble, the few times he did always put the white haired man into a very disadvantageous position. Each and every single one of Ananta's requests never failed to place huge pressure on Garuda. He knew better than to take the words of the strongest Sura lightly. Even with his alliance with Gandharva and Shuri in place, a full blown war between the Ananta and Garuda Clans would result in too many casualties on his side.
"Which man is it?" he finally asked after a long pause.
Ananta frowned deeper. "You don't even know? I confess that I'm quite disappointed. I didn't think that a king would let so many events regarding his Nastikas go unnoticed, even a king like you." The tone he used resembled Vinata's—the old Vinata's—so much that Garuda had to consciously stop himself from jerking.
"…"
"A large, igneous bird. A tanned man with golden-red hair. Does that sound familiar to you?"
His eyes grew momentarily. Both Garuda's fists and his jaw clenched tightly at the same time. He lowered his head until his bangs covered his eyes and mask. Vinata… His gut was expanding and compressing at the same time, with relief, with terror. What have you been doing for all these years that you've been gone? Why? Why Ananta of all people?
"He's not here," Garuda muttered. "He hasn't been here for the past ninety nine thousand years."
Ananta blinked in surprise. He finally lowered his guarded arm. "I see… I did not know that the killer was a vagabond. Forgive me, then, for inconveniencing your clan members. I shall hunt him down and annihilate with my own hands."
"No." The response was instantaneous and firm. Garuda's face was contorted with multiple lines of anger. His eyes were dark and his sword was pointed towards Ananta.
The snake was not pleased. He bared his fangs and growled, "are you directly threatening me?"
"I will not let you kill him," he bit out furiously and foolishly. The only reason Garuda was not afraid of his adversary was because he was much more apprehensive of Ananta's threat to kill Vinata. "Vinata is my responsibility. He has nothing to do with you."
Ananta laughed. "Nothing to do with me? Garuda, you seem to be temporarily deluded. I am the one going out on a limb here. What part of he killed four Nastikas of my clan do you not understand? Or do I need to demonstrate with the Nastikas of yours?"
"If he is indeed the culprit, then I will punish him accordingly. Let me rephrase what I said earlier: I don't care what business you have with him. If you touch one feather on Vinata's body, we will have a full blown war on our hands." Ananta didn't flinch, but both kings knew that they were now treading on thin ice. The Garuda Clan would suffer major casualties if it started treating the Ananta Clan how it treated the gods, but that situation was also extremely disadvantageous for the Ananta Suras. Enough, at least, to let Garuda gain some leverage from the bluff.
Ananta's face was now so dark with anger it was as if his red eyes were glowing. "I am immensely disappointed in you, Garuda," he growled, taking an assertive step forward, "and your unkingliness. For one man, you would drag your entire clan into war. You would watch so many of your children die."
"Yes." Garuda was equally belligerent. "I am just as bad a king as you described. For Vinata, I would do anything."
A small furrow appeared in between Ananta's brows. He appeared to be in a pensive contemplation for a few moments before sighing and squeezing his eyes shut. Briskly, he turned the other way, the two ends of his brown sash swaying in the wind. "Once again, I am too generous." The words were said softly enough so that only Garuda could hear them. "I know of love only from the way Vasuki stares at Sagara when she is not looking. Beware, Garuda. It made him a fool and it's made you one too. I will let this slip once under the condition that no more Nastikas of my clan are to be slain by this man in the future. If I hear of another death at the hands of the red bird—" Ananta whipped his head around; his expression said it all "—there will be no second chances."
Just like that, the invader started leaving down the rocky road. Garuda sighed softly in relief, finally lowering his sword and loosening his muscles. His vigilant eyes remained trained on Ananta's figure just to make sure he would no longer threaten any more Garuda Suras, not that he had to; unlike the other sly Nastikas of his clan, Ananta was a keeper of his word. He neither killed nor harmed a single Sura, even when they snapped and flared at him.
On his long, solitary journey he never turned back, only stopping briefly to give a bit of advice. "You might want to check up on that Rakshasa. A second stage pipsqueak like him won't even be able to survive my poison for a day."
Perhaps, just perhaps the strongest king of the eight Sura clans was also the fairest.
S-C-N-D
N0 - approx. 61000 years
S-C-N-D
"Visnu."
The olive haired man rose to his feet as his name was called. He smiled mysteriously at Garuda. "The time has finally come."
As usual, Garuda had absolutely no clue what he was implying by "the time." Visnu frequently talked of significant, life-changing decisions that happened or would happen. He often forgot that the rest of the world couldn't see the future like he did. What was life-changing in his perspective was usually just a small event that set the snowball rolling down the hill. Normally, Suras didn't notice until the snowball threatened to crush them.
"Tell me where Vinata is."
"Oh! Have you finally taken Shuri's advise to steal him away in the night?"
Garuda was in no mood for jokes; in fact, he was a little irked that Visnu was so carefree when he had never been this desperate in his entire life. "This isn't just about us anymore. Ananta and my entire clan have gotten involved. The consequences could be dire if I don't bring him back immediately."
"Ah," Visnu sobered with immediate comprehension. "So that has happened. In that case, I do agree with you, my friend. It may be in your best interest to find him as soon as possible. That future wasn't the ideal one I had picked out for you but it does speed things up significantly."
Garuda tried his best to appear to be waiting patiently. It was a little bit hard to do when his natural instincts were screaming at him to demand Visnu to stop beating around the bush and just tell him where Vinata was already. Finally he had an excuse to find him. For a long ninety-nine thousand years, Vinata seemed so far away, so shrouded in darkness. All Garuda wanted was to bring light back into his world.
"So you want to know where he is," said Visnu and Garuda almost throttled him while screaming YES! The Original God grabbed his chin with a thumb and index finger. His face was passive for a moment, as if he were searching for something. Then, slowly, a smile emerged. "The number is a hundred thousand. The location is Carte. When both of those requirements are fulfilled, you will find him."
Garuda squinted in disbelief. All that effort for nothing but a puzzle? Well, at least it wasn't as bad as that uselessly cryptic map of Willarv Vinata chucked at his head that one time. Who'd have known that Airavata's face could stretch that… broadly?
"Oh, and Garuda, do you know your colours?"
"My… colours?" he asked hesitantly.
"Yeah," chippered Visnu. "Colours. When you're short on resources, it can be crucial to know which two colours make a third. For example, in your case, grey and blue make red."
Well now Visnu was just spewing plain gibberish. While Garuda had never been bored enough to learn to make every single colour in the world, he was ninety nine point continuous nine percent sure that grey and blue did not make red. Because otherwise, there would be a hoard of red Rakshasas in his land from Cepphus and Kalavinka's incessant reproducing.
"I'm going to go to Carte," he announced. Hearing too many of Visnu's ambiguous prophecies made his head hurt.
Visnu frowned. "It's still early yet."
"There's nothing else for me to do."
His friend stared long and hard at him. "Okay then."
Garuda nodded before leaping into the air. Shortly after his departure, Visnu let out a soft gasp, as if suddenly recalling something crucial. He ran to the edge of a cliff and searched the skies. Maybe he shouldn't have given a Nastika such inhuman speed. Garuda's figure was already too far away for him to elaborate properly so when Visnu finally spotted him, he just cupped his hands around his mouth and screamed one word.
"MARUNA!"
S-C-N-D
Unimportant, but the yellow Nastika at the very beginning was Clophe and Cloche's grandmother. When I create original characters, I like to make them have as much relation to Kubera's characters as possible (such as being the ancestor or mother or grandmother or child of one). I think it's better than just making a character straight out of the blue and it saves me the trouble of thinking up a last name as well. :) Last names in Kubera are slightly unusual, as in I can't find a trend that would allow me to create a plausible one.
Thank you for reading! Please leave a review!
-SCND